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Change is a reality in the current business environment and, if done well, can help grow your business. Employees may also see change as an opportunity rather than a threat.

What are 'reasonable' changes to an employee's role?

When you change staff duties, you need to be conscious of what may be considered a reasonable change within the scope of their position and what may constitute a redundancy or termination if challenged.

Reasonable changes are generally those that do not alter the essential position.

Examples or fair and unfair job changes are:

an administrative staff member who is asked to undertake lunch coverage of reception duties or learn a new system could be considered to fall within the scope of an Office Assistant

moving the same Office Assistant into a role which consists primarily of food and beverage service could constitute a redundancy situation.

Key steps to best manage risk during change

In any situation of change, you should be prepared to outline exactly what the issues are and the changes that are proposed to rectify these.

Key questions for employers

To minimise risk, you should also ask yourself:

what is the issue? (Examples include lack of coverage during lunch hours, upcoming holidays or sick leave)

how many employees may be affected – more than one may require broad consultation, including union involvement?

does this impact on current entitlements or hours?

will this impact on the job classification and pay rates - are the changes of a nature that may result in a higher or lower classification?

how to approach and implement this change?

Redundancy claims

In the case of a redundancy claim the employer may be required to pay a severance amount. An employee could also lodge an unfair dismissal claim. A key consideration in both of these scenarios would be whether the changes resulted in a change to income.

Consult your staff often

Perhaps the most important step in any situation of change is to consult with your employees. This is good practice and is a requirement in situations of major change under many awards and agreements if the broader workforce is impacted.

Employees can also offer valuable input into any changes and highlight potential issues prior to them arising.

What's next?

Case study: How to motivate your employees

'Moving from being a micromanaging small business owner to an empowering team leader is a journey, and it was very hard ... I'm pretty sure that's why a lot of small businesses don't grow past a certain point.'